1955 Chevy Truck - Readers' Trucks

Tom Ladd of West Des Moines, Iowa, has put his fair share of work into his '55 Chevy truck, dubbed "Resistor." For starters, Tom-with the help of Tim and Pat Schmidt at Clive Maaco (and yes, it is a true Maaco shop, it just has extracurricular activities)-installed a TCI Mustang II frontend complete with modern features such as disc brakes, rack-and-pinion, power steering, and drop spindles. He also dropped the rear down with a set of TCI rear springs. The engine is a 327 Chevy with 350 heads and other various speed products.

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Tom also had Samson Design build him a one-off air breather. What makes the truck Tom's, is all the custom work he's done to it. Modifications include: the hood being pancaked 31/2 inches, turn signals smoothed and relocated, custom inner fender panels, smoothed firewall, rounded bed corners, and much more. Also, Tom built the bed cover and tailgate as one unit that lifts up in one piece via linear actuators. Under the cover is a custom wood bed made from "Padueq (Nigerian hardwood)" and ash wood. Setting everything off is the DuPont Long Beach Pearl Metallic Blue over Billet Silver and Cameo White. Not bad for a two-year project.

Editor's Note: Getting your truck into Readers' Trucks is a snap, of the camera, that is. All it takes is a stack of good-quality photos of your ride that are in focus and well lit. Due to the volume of mail we receive, we regret that we cannot return photographs. Send photos of your truck (no Polaroids or printouts) to: CCT, Readers' Trucks, 774 S. Placentia Ave., Placentia, CA 92870. It is important that you include a detailed description of the modifications you have made to your truck, including any interesting stories behind it.

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Cobra Kai Dojo

Wayne R. Redmond, of Statesville, North Carolina, is a "Ford in Ford" type of guy, as evidenced by his '56 F-100. For starters, the truck is built around a Cobra theme-and we mean both the Ford product and the snake. Between the framerails is a 429 Cobra JET bored 0.060 over. It also has Edelbrock heads, a Holley 750 carb, and an MSD ignition for added venom. Backing the motor is a stout C-6 tranny with a CJS servo, E40D gearset, and 3,000-stall Dayco converter. In terms of the body it's all stock, but the rear fenders have been widened 11/2 inches to accommodate the big 20-inch Billet Specialties rims. The stock interior was ditched for a custom job that includes a smoothed dash and real Cobra snakeskin inserts in the door panels. Rounding off the Cobra theme is the custom one-off billet Cobra badges on the hood-in the style of the original hood badges.

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Oddity

It's always cool to see some of the oddballs out there, and Crane Rock, from Coeymans Hollow, New York, has definitely scored himself one the oddest we've seen in a while.

"I've been a subscriber of your magazine for a number of years and decided maybe other readers might enjoy seeing my ride. I started with three FC series Jeeps to get enough good parts for one body. The only Jeep parts left are the front bumper and sheetmetal in the cab, everything else is hand-fabricated. I'm a welding and fabricator instructor so I take my metalwork seriously. It has IFS that is bagged with rack-and-pinion steering-and the rear suspension is a Jag IRS. The Jeep is loaded with a strong 351C and C6. My 'Tweety On Steroids' really gets some looks as it rumbles down the road."